Monday, November 5, 2012

Content Highlights - Aulacopleura konincki – social trilobite?

Did you
know that some trilobites may have lived similarly to social insects?

Aulacopleura konicki juvenile specimen. Coll. NM Prague. CC-BY-ND.

Aulacopleura konicki adult specimen. Coll. NM Prague. CC-BY-ND.

Trilobites
were one of the most significant inhabitants of the Paleozoic oceans and today
rank among the most popular fossils ever. Their abundance allows us to conduct
detailed investigations of their morphology, lifestyle and evolutionary
history.

One of the
plentiful species is Aulacopleura
konincki, found in
Silurian (444-416 million years ago) rocks of the Czech Republic, not far from
Prague. Aulacopleura koninckiranks among the smaller
trilobites, with a body length of 1-3 cm, and lived on slopes of oceanic
volcanic islands. Occasionally, individuals of the species were buried by
volcanic ash on the shallow see bottom, and so today we can find entire groups
of their bodies preserved in geological layers. Consequently, Aulacopleura konincki is often displayed in museums all over the
world, as well as individual collections.

Aulacopleura konincki is interesting in that adults have
a large number of body segments, but not a fixed number, ranging from 18 to 22.
This is unusual, since adult trilobites of a species almost always have the
same number of body segments. Due to the varying number of segments in adults
and the large numbers of individuals present in numerous clusters of the
fossils, some scientists argue that Aulacopleura
konincki was a social
animal. Adults may have comprised various castes according to the number of
body segments, similarly to workers or drones in bees. Definite conclusions to
these surmises await further study.

Countless natural history treasures are deposited in museums across the world, many hidden away beyond easy access. The OpenUp! project represents a free portal to these resources, offering virtual access to over one million items of the world’s biodiversity heritage. The objects made available through OpenUp! consist of high quality photos, videos and sounds, as well as natural history artworks and specimens, and include many items previously inaccessible to visitors. Information provided through OpenUp! will be checked by scientists and made freely available through the Europeana portal at www.europeana.eu.